Students On Long Road To Recovery

Chloe Gilman, left, talks with friends and supporters at St. Thomas Aquinas Church where a benefit was staged to raise money for her recovery

By Sondra Murphy
Two academic-minded and active local high school students are on the road to recovery following separate automobile accidents. Each girl is an experienced equestrian and is blessed with the support of family and friends following their traumatic injuries.
Both the families of Chloe Gilman and Salina Butterfield have discovered that assertive involvement in their daughter’s therapy has been essential to their recovery. Each girl overcame life-threatening injuries and is making the slow journey back to health.
Nordhoff High School senior Salina Butterfield was driving to school on Creek Road Oct. 10 when she swerved and hit a stone wall. Even though she was wearing her seat belt and her car’s airbags deployed, Butterfield suffered severe head trauma, survived an initial craniotomy, was comatose and her prognosis for survival was low. In the event of survival, doctors indicated that she had a 90 percent chance of remaining in a vegetative state for the rest of her life.
Villanova student Chloe Gilman, 15, was a passenger in a vehicle involved in a single-car accident on Villanova Road Jan. 28. The car struck a tree, trapping Gilman for 40 minutes before she could be taken to Ventura County Medical Center’s trauma unit. Gilman, too, was wearing her seat belt, but sustained lacerations, minor head trauma, a collapsed lung and broke a tooth, several ribs, a forearm, and her pelvis.
Such devastating injuries can test a family’s emotional and financial resources, as well as present medical diagnoses that go beyond typical parental territory. Fortunately, Salina Butterfield’s mother has a background in psychology and special education and began researching therapies for people suffering from traumatic brain injuries. “I did not give up hope,” said Jarice Butterfield, a former Ojai Unified School District assistant superintendent. “I found research that said if you do intense sensory activities with them during this peak time, the prognosis improves.”
Jarice Butterfield used several techniques to help her daughter respond to external stimulation, including a squeeze-activated squeaker. “I would put it between her fingers and say ‘Squeak,’” said Butterfield. “Around the 13th day of doing that, her fingers finally squeezed around it. It was the greatest moment of joy I’ve ever had in my life.” Salina slowly improved in the coming weeks.
Chloe Gilman spent four days at the trauma unit and is making better progress than medical staff anticipated. “Her lung and her pelvis were the major injuries,” said Gilman’s grandmother, Shareen Torres. “She’s doing really well — much better than everyone thought she would.”
During the 18 days of Salina Butterfield’s coma, Jarice and husband, Brett, spent much of their time in the hospital and tried to cover as much work-related tasks from the site as possible. When Butterfield could not be at the hospital herself, her mother or friends would sit in to continue the sensory activities. “At first, we just wanted her to live,” Jarice Butterfield said. After Salina came out of her coma, the next goal was that she would not remain vegetative.
Salina Butterfield remained in the Ventura County Medical Center ICU for four weeks and then was transferred to St. John’s Regional Medical Center’s acute neural rehabilitation facility in Oxnard. She recognized family, her memory was returning, she was gaining speech and showing emotion. “Then, all of a sudden, she started speaking in Spanish and had a constant runny nose,” said Butterfield. What hospital staff thought was merely a cold, Butterfield suspected was more. “I told them that they needed to do more tests. They finally did and it turns out one of the fractures in her frontal lobe had opened up and she needed an emergency craniotomy.”
For this next operation in which a portion of the skull is removed to gain access to the brain, Salina Butterfield was taken to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. She lived through the second craniotomy and was able to recover and resume her rehabilitation at CHLA for the next two months. “I had to be on top of it every step of the way,” said Butterfield of the proactive involvement with her daughter’s medical care. While she praises the staff in all of the hospitals where Salina has been a patient, “Parents know their children better than doctors.”
An honor student, Chloe Gilman is now recovering at home and must do physical therapy exercises and breathing exercises every hour. “She tried going to school Monday, but found it was too hard. It is too painful for her to sit for a long time.” Maneuvering her wheelchair around campus also proved taxing to Gilman. Torres said that her granddaughter hopes to return to school next week and that Villanova said they will do what they can to help Gilman catch up academically.
In addition to working with a physical therapist, her father, Derek, has been very involved with her physical therapy. “At first, she had to set up chairs around the house to rest on as she walked around,” said Torres. Some of Gilman’s mobility is reduced because of her pelvis, but her lung damage also impacts movement. “She can walk for short periods now,” Torres said.
Salina Butterfield is now at the Center for Neuro Skills in Bakersfield. This post-acute neural recovery facility has expanded on the progress she has made in learning to walk and talk again. Salina lives in an apartment with an assistant and other teens recovering from brain injuries, where she also continues her schooling and is learning to cook.
“Our goal now is for her to get her diploma,” said Butterfield. “Her long-term memory is intact, but her short term is about five seconds right now. She doesn’t remember things she learned the day before.” Butterfield said that Nordhoff has been working with them on this goal with the hope Salina can walk with her graduating class.
With Salina’s placement at CNS, Jarice and Brett Butterfield have just returned to their jobs full time. “We’ve been fortunate in that our insurance has covered most of the expenses,” said Butterfield, estimating the medical costs so far as $1 to $2 million. “Our only expense has been the out-of-home expenses from staying near the hospitals, eating out and those kinds of things.” Butterfield said that several community members, Ojai Unified School District sites and their church community have collected funds, from which they have created an account in preparation for Salina’s future needs.
Insurance from both the Gilmans and the driver’s family has helped cover much of the cost of her medical care. “The problem with insurance is it doesn’t cover all costs, such as loss of income from loss of work,” said Torres. “Family leave lets you have three months, but there’s no pay during that time. That’s why we put together a fundraiser.”
Derek Gilman spends his time off from work helping his daughter with physical therapy. “He makes sure she does her breathing exercises and physical therapy exercises every hour,” said Torres. “She does what he requests.”
Salina Butterfield is making her first visit home this weekend, but it will be several more months before she will be moving back for good. “She said ‘I need to be here (at CNS),’” said Butterfield, “’and I want to be well when I come home.’”
Meanwhile, Salina is comfortable at CNS. “She said ‘Mom, this is like going to college.’ I told her ‘Salina, this is too nice. It’s nothing like what you’ll live in during college.’” The Butterfield family remains focused and appreciative of the progress Salina is making. “Her neurosurgeon considers her a miracle,” said Butterfield. For more about Salina’s progress, visit salinabutterfield.bravehost.com.
Miriam Andrews is a friend of Chloe’s mother, Shannon Gilman, and was involved in planning the benefit to help the family. “Everyone is just amazed that Chloe survived,” Andrews said, “and then, that her healing is happening so fast.” Andrews expressed concerns about local roads, like Creek and Villanova. “Chloe’s mom and I would like to address the safety of the roads that have so many accidents on them.”
The Chloe Gilman benefit took place on Sunday and raised nearly $3,400 through auction items and attendee donations. An account has been established at Washington Mutual Bank in Ojai to help ease the financial burdens associated with Chloe Gilman’s recovery. Donations may be to The Chloe Gilman Family.